Coach announces departure as Maids struggle to survive in South West 1

IT HAS been another monumental week for Maidenhead Rugby Club, as coach Simon Edwards announced he was quitting his job at the end of the season.
His recent appointment as South and South West of England under 19s coach is behind the decision, but Edwards has mixed emotions about the timing of his departure.
He actually announced his decision to the board two months ago, when his side was on a winning streak and heading for midtable safety, so he was keen to defuse any rumour that he was leaving the club in the lurch.
He said: “The reason I’m going is because it’s the right time for me. It’s got nothing to do with relegation.
“I made my decision at the beginning of the season. Even if we had gone up I would still have gone.
“What I’m doing is pursuing my coaching career in the RFU structure. It’s something I have always wanted to do.
“I’ll still be playing an active role at Maidenhead next season. I haven’t walked out on the club.”
His appointment to the England set-up is a direct result of his astonishing success with the Maidenhead Colts, who booked a place in the semi-finals of the National Knockout Cup on Sunday, with a crushing 42-0 win over Northampton, at Braywick.
Edwards said: “The whole thing is connected with my Colts side, who are packing up and going to university next year.
“My ultimate aim is to coach a representative England side, at whatever level I can, and I suppose it’s my work with the Colts that has got me recognised.
“It’s also time someone else came in at Maidenhead with some fresh ideas and I’m very much involved in finding the right people to do that.”
The club’s chief executive Grahame Fisher said he was apprehensive about Edwards’ departure, but paid tribute to the contributions he had made to the club over the years. He said: “Simon has put a fantastic amount of work in.
“He’s been a very dedicated coach and it’s going to be very difficult to replace him. Hopefully he’ll still be here in another role. He’ll finish coaching this year, but he’s not leaving the club.”
At the moment, the plan seems to be to recruit internally, although Fisher did suggest that Bracknell coach Paul Rendall might be on the move at the end of the season, adding: “But I don’t think we could afford his salary.”
Elsewhere results this week in South West 1 went against Maids for a fourth week in a row, with Keynsham’s unexpected win over Barnstaple leaving the Braywick side in double jeopardy.
The Bristol outfit now lead Maids on points difference and are enjoying a very rich vein of form which should see them to safety.
Meanwhile, Barnstaple’s shock defeat has opened the door for promotion-chasing Dings Crusaders, who visit Braywick on April 6 – and who will be desperate for a win.
Edwards said: “It couldn’t have gone worse for us. Dings now have to beat us when they play us.
“We are very aware of what we have to do. We need to win both our remaining games and we will win both games.
“There is no talk in the club about going down and we won’t go down.
“The last thing I want to do is leave Maidenhead in South West 2.”
Fisher was also very positive about Maidenhead’s chances of avoiding the drop.
He added: “We just have to go out and win our last two games and hope that Keynsham or Stroud slip up.
“It’s going to be a very good couple of games and we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.”